The phrase “Compassion is the vice of kings” from AL II, 21 is another in a long line of passages from The Book of the Law which modern-day Thelemites regularly attempt to pervert to their own moral and ideological ends. In particular, comments such as “we are told to indulge our vices” from Gerald del […]

A few months ago, in the entry Religious naturalism and religious thinking, we criticized the much-vaunted but actually non-existent benefits of religion within the context of philosophy (which actually does not exist) which eschews the regular supernatural components of traditional religious beliefs. We saw that: once you take the supernatural out of religion, you are […]

The U.S. OTO Frequently Asked Questions page contains the following: What if it’s your True Will to do [some bad thing]? This is the philosophical puzzle at the core of Thelema, and like most puzzles, it resists easy solution. One school of thought considers “Do what thou wilt” to be a descriptive rather than a […]

A post entitled A Church of Magic over on Kjetil Fjell’s blog has, despite being over a year old, been recently brought to my attention. The subject matter covered, a type of sociological, OTO-obsessed, college-kid “Thelema” inspired by Team418, is not the usual fare for this site, but in this particular entry – and in […]

Reposted from LAShTAL.com: Iskandar wrote: While I very much disagree with Mika’s last sentence, I am in complete agreement with her essential thesis, that “living according to one’s Will *is* achieving one’s Will.” I would consider Crowley as responsible for some confusion regarding this issue, but mostly because he was – Prophet or not – […]

During a recent conversation I had with Dutch poet Martijn Benders we talked about the “path of least resistance” idea of will that I have previously discussed in The three dimensions of will and on the occasion of the Sun’s 2008 entrance into the cadent decan of Pisces. It is same idea that Aleister Crowley […]

In You are not entitled, we raised the possibility that a liberal society and liberal values, although clearly preferred by many, may actually be detrimental to a society and ultimately unsustainable. Earlier, in Let there be no difference made, we saw how natural selection has not “designed” us to be spiritually fulfilled and happy, presumably […]

The Christian position on “sin” is best summed up in Romans 7:14-25: For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that […]

In a comment to A damnable heresy recently, I stated that: The problem really is that people study this subject for a short while and then quickly conclude that they basically know what they’re doing. Sure, they’ll often claim that they’re humble, and that they know they’re still a beginner, and that they’ll never stop […]

In chapter 43 of Magick Without Tears, Aleister Crowley dealt with the question of what order of existence “angels” belong to, and particularly “whether they are liable to accident, misfortune and the like.” This chapter has caused some of the most mischief in terms of encouraging fanciful and supernatural interpretations of Crowley’s work than almost […]